After Death (39 page)

They were in a tunnel made from the dead!

He felt a surge of panic and revulsion and claustrophobia and terror and —

Disgusting dead bodies everywhere! — He needed out — out of this suffocating death-hole!

It was slowly sinking in to Frank that he was actually finished —
dead!
Eli had been right — there was nothing he could do now. The game was over and he had lost. Even as he thought this, he began to feel like grains of sand blowing in the wind — dispersing — spreading to the four corners of the universe to never be whole again… He could see his floating reflection over the body below him that he used to occupy. His ghostly form was thinning… reducing… It was so faint now that it was barely a ripple in the air — He was leaving… Becoming finally just as Eli had said…
Nothingness
…

His mind spun in one last desperate flurry.

What a pathetic wretch he had been — He had been lead here so easily every step of the way — His predicament had become exactly like his earlier attempt at a vampire story — the one that Jackie had pointed out as the “he’s fucked” scenario. He was the protagonist but his adversary was too powerful, too supernatural, and there was no weakness that he could discern
whatsoever
. He
was
fucked. How pathetic was it that his final thoughts would be about the injustice of it all, the unfairness of life — the apparent unfairness of death, and the stupidity of his own naïveté. And look what he’d done to those around him! Rachel. Lidia. Innocent children. Argus. And soon:
Jackie
. How sad it was that through his incompetence, innocents should suffer and perish.

How could he have really hoped that an all-knowing, all-seeing being existed that could smite down this terrible evil and see that justice was put right in the world? It was more fiction. It was as fanciful as the solutions he had written where a crucifix had vanquished the devilish villain — actually much sillier. Eli had been right once again. Our world was the world of force, of power, of focus. Of
Rage
. The strong prevailed and the weak… disappeared… Eli had murdered children and teenagers when he’d been alive and had never been caught. On the contrary, he had lived to a ripe old age and had been well taken care of by sheep that had never recognized the wolf in their fold. And there he had waited until the right fool came along and facilitated a better incarnation. Was this any kind of punishment for the terrible deeds he had done? How could this happen if there were any real justice in this world or the next? Frank now knew the answer. There was no justice. There was no natural equilibrium to set things right. There was no otherworldly watch-guard or god. Frank had unleashed this beast on an unsuspecting and unprepared world. And with Eli’s insatiability coupled with his virtually unlimited power, it meant unlimited murders. As long as there was life to take, he would continue to take it. There was nothing and no one to stop him —
ever
.

Eli stepped into view from
inside
the reflection holding Jackie before him in a headlock, knife at her throat. He grinned at Frank and spoke in a mocking sing-song taunt.

“I told you, you weren’t strong enough, Franklin.” He gloated — already inflated with victory. “I told you it would be this way.”

Frank was thunderstruck — His eyes moved to Jackie and locked.

She was alive! Jackie — Jackie, my love was still alive! He couldn’t abandon her — He wouldn’t! It was not yet time for him to leave — He had unfinished business here!

Again, with this focus came new strength — He felt himself returning…

He looked again past the others at his reflection and saw that it took on a new solidity — He could see the outline of his own mouth as it moved of its own accord and raw emotion poured out in a rush.

“Jackie..!”

He could hear his voice! He once more had the power of speech!! It came out overloud and echoed off the walls repeating over and over until diminishing in a rasping whisper.

He understood now some of what Eli had said. It had worked! His focus had brought him new strength. And yet, he still wasn’t nearly as solid as Eli… Apparently, focus would only take him so far. To battle this demon he would need more — much more.

Solidity — what was it that Eli had said about solidity and physicality? He must remember — think! If he could become solid, he could engage this creature — He could do what he hadn’t been able to do before — What his poor dead dog hadn’t been able to do before!

A normal living being, one bound by the ordinary rules of humankind, stood no chance against a ghastly creature that could become solid or vapor at will. But if he could become the
same as him
— the battlefield would be even!

Time seemed to stop as Frank stared at Eli who held Jackie in a firm choke hold and stared back at him. They both seemed transfixed, like a cobra and a mongoose, neither willing nor able to move.

Frank’s thoughts continued to spin.

Solidity — how do I achieve solidity?

He fought to remain absolutely motionless while he puzzled this out. He had no intention of breaking this strange spell of tableau until he was ready — until he could act.

His odd less-than-solid reflection continued to look back at him from past Eli and Jackie within the mirror.

He knew the answer was here, he could feel it!

He tried to flick just his eyes around the cave and hoped that at this distance, it wouldn’t be noticed. There were only the three of them, the candles flickering around them, the mirrors reflecting their images over and over. He corrected himself — There were actually
four
of them if he were to count his own now deceased crumpled figure at the base of the central mirror —

That was it! What he needed was right there, right there in front of him!

He needed the final ingredient — The final ingredient that would allow him to wage battle in solid form!

As though somehow feeling this newfound resolve, Jackie stirred in Eli’s grasp. She opened her big green eyes and looked at him with terror and a clear pleading expression that wrenched at his heart. She struggled to speak but Eli held her too tightly.

Frank shuddered in pain and guilt at the position his stupidity had put her in.

“Jackie!” He blurted out, unable to contain himself.

His mind set and locked. It had all become intensely clear in this instant. He knew what Eli meant now — He knew the answer to the riddle that could change the outcome.

He needed blood.

Fernando turned away from Parks and Washington and started to run back the way he came —

Bones, ribs, everywhere, dozens of skulls — staring at him! He needed to get out — back out to clean air!

His pumping feet slid in the wet mud and he lost traction and went down in a heap just as a sharp echo twittered up the walls and cascaded over them.

“Jackie!” it reverberated over and over, assaulting them from all sides.

The group went tense — the call had been emotional, mournful —
Passionate
.

Washington snapped into gear, moving at double-speed further into the cave and Parks raced to keep up with him. Fernando leveraged himself out of the mud, now suddenly alone in the darkness.

Should he
try to go back or follow their receding flashlights?

The idea of feeling his way back in the dark over these horrid walls was worse than the alternative.

At least they had lights. And guns.

He scrambled after them.

He scraped and bumped against odd projections — bones, teeth, who-knows-what. He tried not to think about it — it made his skin crawl. They weren’t far ahead, he didn’t have to go far. Thank God for that.

Their lights stopped and Fernando closed the gap quickly, feeling a sense of relief — before the thought even dawned on him as to
why
they had stopped.

He came in close behind them and then froze just as they had frozen. A stench wafted into his face that made his head swim and his eyes tear and through the nausea what he saw had a drug-induced quality — a vision tinged by blurred radiant light.

Dozens of lit candles burned on niches carved into the walls that were reflected in three large mirrors at the end of the cave. Each mirror sat propped against a side-wall, the last and largest mirror against the final dead end. In two rows, one on each side of the cave, on spikes before the mirrors, were severed body parts — hands, legs, torsos, heads — old and young — men and women, but primarily
children.
Some were decomposed — bone and little remaining hair or tissue left — others were fresh — the expressions still life-like — eyes open and staring and all facing or pointing or angled in the same direction —
At Frank,
who stood before the three mirrors — His face twisted in an expression of horror — an obvious madman glaring at his own reflection in front of a large audience of dismembered body parts.

“Let her go, you fucking son of a bitch —” He cursed at the mirrors. “Let her go!”

Parks, Washington and Fernando watched him, mesmerized. They were only feet away but he paid them no mind. His intense stare at the mirror deepened and he growled.

“Let her go, I said!” He shouted with even more vehemence at no one but himself.

***

From the mirrors, Eli glared back at Frank, his knife pushed hard against Jackie’s pulsing throat. He seemed to relish every reaction he could draw from Frank — large and small — feeding on them like small bits of perverse nourishment. Eli’s eyes remained locked on Frank as he nicked Jackie with the razor-sharp tip of his knife in the center of her chin — just enough for one single droplet of blood to emerge — and as it blossomed, he flicked his tongue at it with snakish precision, then rolled the liquid around in his mouth, savoring the taste.

“Ah, nectar!” he exclaimed, eyes narrowing to receive the details of Frank’s horror.

Frank was outraged and moved a step towards Eli. He knew this was what Eli wanted but he could no longer contain himself.

The monster had cut his love! The creature had fed on her!

***

Parks stepped forward and put his arms out towards Frank in a placating gesture.

“Easy, Frank…” He said. “It’s just us — Fernando and me and my partner…”

Fernando couldn’t help but notice again how calm and yet commanding Park’s voice was. But Frank was an obvious lunatic—did he really expect to be able to get through to him?

***

A sound and movement behind Frank made him spin.

Could Eli have minions? Accomplices…? It would explain a lot…

He squinted as though through a fog —

There, behind him — it was Fernando and two other men — Fernando! Here!

He guessed that the others were police from their bearing and their outstretched arms and guns leveled.

The guns were leveled at him! Why at him!?! Eli was to the left and behind him! Fools! Didn’t they realize bullets could do nothing against him?

Frank glanced back at the mirrors.

If Fernando and the others were real, if this wasn’t a ruse — he needed to warn them and still protect her…

“Get back.” He told them. “He’s got Jackie. He’s gonna kill her if I don’t do something…”

Frank saw Fernando glance at the other men. Fernando whispered to them and Frank could hear it plainly — even
loudly
.

“Should I tell him Jackie was his mother...? That there is no Eli…?”

Frank’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

No Eli? Suuuure. Then who were they trying to say was responsible for all the —? So clever. They were obviously saying this for him to overhear. But why would they do that? And how had they found Eli’s lair anyway?

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a familiar hum in the background — that same irritating lilting goddamn sing-song tune — The one that Eli had hummed so many times…

At first it was distant… Vague… And then, as it grew in volume, his head began to throb, almost pulsing to the beat…

What was happening? Who was doing this to him?!?

He began to feel dizzy. His legs almost buckled beneath him. It was happening as it had before — the same as when Burt had told him the story of Eli’s youth — He was being transported — but this time his eyes were open! He barely had time to notice that Fernando and the other two men were frozen in place, their expressions odd as if time had stopped and only he was still moving.

Stop! I need to stay here! I need to finish this!

But it was too late — the cave was changing… The walls were straightening and smoothing. The candlelight was segueing from flickering yellow to a steady incandescent glow.

But how could this happen? There was no Burt to orchestrate this nor did he feel he had any part in this location alteration… So who was doing this?